REAGAN FAULTS DISARMAMENT DRIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410089-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: December 22, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/16: CIA-RDP90-00552 R000505410089-1
TIC PPE?BE??D
THE BALTIMORE SUN
0., p} _ 22 December 1931
Washington (AP) -President Reagan.
says the, disarmament demonstration
that sent hundreds of thousands of people
marching in the capitals of Western Eu-
rope this fall were all sponsored by an or-
ganization "bought. and paid, for by the
Soviet Union."
President Reagan's statement, in an in=.
terview to. be broadcast later this week.
brought an angry rebuttal fiom spokes-
men of. the American anti-nuclear weap-
ons', movement , They: saidthatSoviet-
backed groups take part, but that the Eu-
ropean peace movement: is a broadly
based protest against the prospect of a nu-
clear war being fought on European soil-
President. Reagan's comment came in
an interview taped last week for the Pub-
lic Broadcasting Service program, ".Ben.
Wattenberg at Large." The interview is to
be aired Friday nighL:A. transcript was
made available yesterday, to the Associat-
ed Press. -
The president was asked about the pro-
tests, such as that whi&took place on De-
cember 5, when hundreds of thousands
marched in Denmark,' Switzerland, Italy,
West Germany and Romania against U.S.
and Soviet arms policies;,` `
"Oh, those demonstrations," President
Reagan said. "You could have used news-
reels from the '60s ire America. Those are
all sponsored by a thing called the World
Peace Council, which is bought ught and paid
for by the Soviet Union."
ThP World Peace Council was identi-
fied in 1980 testimony before the-HO-use
Permanent Select Committee on Intelli-
gence by John McMahon, a Central Intelli-
gence A ncv oftcial. as a viet root or-
anization and "a liti action tool in
support of Soviet foreign goals an
mi 'to stmt c n said c
o eras uj 1 coon es_ ?? ? ? ,
U.S. peace group spo cesmen' did not
"quarrel with' that description, but with
President Reagan's=asserti oo ,at "all"
the demonstrations are sponsored by the
.I' communist-front organization. `. - .
"He's all wet,". said John A. Sullivan,.
associate executive ` secretary of -the.
? American Friends Service Committee, a
Quaker peace group.."He shows a pro-
found ignorance of the peace movement of
the 1960s and what 'American citizens
were up to and that seems to me to be
matched. by his . observations about` the
peace movement in Europe today.
Sullivan said the " European disar-
'
mament movement is supported by many;
organizations that are"religions and mod-
erate iir politid' and added,.'.' hey are not
about to. give away,the'concern for?peace
to an
Dry bloc_"? :..'?.: ; :; J : ~ -::..' c . ? :;
:'.Herbert Scoville, formerly . a top
CIA official: and assistant director of the
U.S. Arms ;.Control and Disarmament
Agency, also' took issue with President
Reagaw.
"I believe that President Reagan great
ly z underestimates the. . strength and
breadth of the anti-nuclear-movement in
Europe," said Dr-Scoville, now president
of the Arms Control Association-"It is not
'just''composed of communist-supported
,-? < :..:;: _ ;~
youths.
"Responsible people ' of all : ages-
throughout Western Europe are extremely
worried by the possibility of a nuclear war
being fought .on their'rlands: These fears.
have been accentuated by rash statem
.by American leaders ents
, implying that a
Eu.'I
ropean nuclear war would not necessarily
.extend to the United States."
_...
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/16: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410089-1